


Gentle Hands and Gentle Hearts

by faeriedisaster



Series: taiwanese keith is my jam [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Anyways, Bilingual Keith (Voltron), Bilingual Lance (Voltron), Canon Universe, Explicit Language, Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Pining Keith (Voltron), aka i curse too much and it reflects in my writing, bilingual lance is super brief though, chinese speaking keith, i know whats up my dudes, im bilingual, im cry, in my brain he was saying all this in taiwanese but like, its impossible to type a dialect, mandarin speaking keith, taiwanese keith, they get together halfway through though so he really only pines for the first like thousand words, yall might attack me for writing bilingual characters wrong but listen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-20
Updated: 2017-05-20
Packaged: 2018-11-02 22:57:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10954479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/faeriedisaster/pseuds/faeriedisaster
Summary: “See! Oh my god. I have no idea what you said, but it was adorable. Wait, why aren't you kissing me yet? Do not deprive me of my kisses, Keith.” Lance leaned his face closer to Keith's, imploring him to, please, hurry up.“Alright, alright. Here they come.”Keith smiled softly and kissed Lance, his hands going to cup his face and the back of his neck. This boy was going to be the death of him, and he didn’t mind it one bit.- also known as the fluffiest pining fic in all the universes. keith is taiwanese because im taiwanese and i was like hell yeah. soft gays with a soft ass plot





	Gentle Hands and Gentle Hearts

Keith practically flew out of his lion, ripping his helmet off along the way. Lance was already out of Blue, running a hand through his hair. 

“Lance!” Keith was mad. He was so fucking _angry_. Why did Lance put himself in danger like that? It was reckless and stupid and- Keith stormed up to Lance and shoved at his chest. “Why did you do that?”

“Do what?” Lance’s jaw tightened, and he tensed, bracing himself for a fight. 

“You didn't have to fucking throw yourself to the fucking Galra. It was unnecessary and reckless and-”

“Oh yeah? Like you can say anything to me about unnecessary and reckless.” Lance sneered. 

“What's that supposed to mean?” Keith was yelling. Lance was yelling. They were both fucking yelling again. This was becoming something of a habit. 

“What it means is you're the fucking _king_ of unnecessary and reckless moves, so you can't fucking tell me not to be!”

“Well, I'm fucking telling you anyways! Do anything that stupid again and I'll fucking kill you! You can't- you can't just-”

“Yeah? Why fucking can't I?”

“Because- because,” Keith's nostrils flared and he shoved Lance again. “你死了，我也會死。” _Nǐ sǐle, wǒ yě huì sǐ_. I can't live without you. 

Where had that come from?

Keith stumbled back, shocked by his own words, and turned on his heel, running towards his room, leaving behind a very confused Lance. 

\------------

A week after that incident and Keith had finally come to the conclusion that perhaps maybe possibly he had a teeny tiny weeny baby of a crush on Lance. Lance and his perfect skin and curly hair and _god, his abs_. And don't even get Keith started on how kind he was and how much he cared about other people. _Did you see him taking care of that baby alien earlier?_

Okay, so maybe it wasn't that small of a crush, but no big deal, right? It would go away, and it would definitely _not_ affect the team _at all_. Not even after Keith had struggled to clear his mind during the mental simulation of thoughts of Lance before the others could see. They still made it in the end which is what matters, right?

He would be better at it next time. This time he was just thrown off because Lance was sitting next to him. The proximity had fried his brain, but now that it was fried it couldn't get fried anymore than it had already. He supposed, though, that it could go beyond fried and become burnt instead. 

A noise behind him startled Keith out of his reverie and he peered over her shoulder. Oh. _Oh_. It was Lance. Lance in a crop top and the shortest blue shorts Keith had ever seen. He stared up the expanse of Lance's legs and to the strip of exposed midriff, feeling his heartbeat in his chest like a drum.

He nearly gave himself whiplash tearing his eyes away and back to his sketchbook. 

“Hi, Lance.” His voice sounded pathetic even to his own ears. 

“Hey, Keith. Whatcha up to?” Lance approached the table, spoon in his mouth, and a carton of space yogurt in one hand.

“I'm drawing.”

“Who are they?”

“They're from these movies I really like. Those two are from Totoro and that ones from Whisper of the Heart.”

“Cartoons?”

“Um, yeah, I guess. They're like Disney minus the endless stream of musical numbers. And a lot more poignant.”

Lance settled into the chair across from him and scooped another bite of yogurt into his mouth. 

“Did you just describe cartoons as poignant?”

“You don't understand, oh my god. These movies are _magical_.”

“Uh huh.” Lance’s gaze dropped down to Keith's hand. “Ooh, is that the apple thing we found before?”

He plucked the half eaten fruit from where it sat on Keith's palm and took a bite. Meanwhile, Keith's brain had begun malfunctioning. It was going off like an alarm repeating _indirect kiss. Indirect kiss. Indirect kiss_. 

“Keith? Keith, are you okay?” 

Lance was shaking his shoulder, staring worriedly. 

“哈？怎麼了？” _Hā? Zěnmele?_ Huh, what happened? 

“What was that?”

“Huh?”

“You just blanked out for like two minutes. Are you okay?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm fine.”

Lance settled back into his chair. 

“Okay. Hey, what was that language? Japanese?”

“What?”

“You say stuff in another language sometimes. What is it?”

“Oh. Sorry, that happens sometimes. It's a dialect of Chinese, mandarin. I'm Taiwanese.”

“Oh, oops. Wait, what's the difference between China and Taiwan?”

Keith gasped, offended, and put his pencil down. 

“ _What's the difference between Taiwan and China?_ ”

“Chill, man. Oh my god. I was just wondering.”

Keith groaned and buried his head in his arms. 

“Sorry.” His voice was muffled against the table. “People always ask me that, and I guess I should be used to it by now, but it's still a total pain.”

“Yeah, I feel you. Everyone asks if I'm Mexican as if there are no other countries in Latin America.”

Keith lifted his head and let out a small huff of sympathy. 

“Taiwan and China are two different countries. Our written language is the same one, and most Taiwanese people other than the older generations speak mandarin. Taiwanese is a dialect like Cantonese is a dialect.”

“If they're different countries how come everyone says they're the same then?”

Keith held up hands. 

“Hold on. I'm getting to that. So, Taiwan is an island, yes?”

“Uh huh.”

“An island in the Pacific Ocean. The aborigines of Taiwan look like Polynesians, basically. Except we're skinnier, I think. In the seventeenth century, a large amount of Han Chinese immigrated to -- more like fucking invaded --Taiwan. They're like the Europeans going to America, you know?”

“Uh huh. Okay. Yes, I am following. Continue.”

“Okay, good. We fought a war and we gained our freedom. We were never really recognized as our own country till World War II, and last I checked China was still getting mad at countries that dared to say Taiwan wasn't part of China. In short, Chinese people can go fuck themselves”

“Wow. That was the most you've ever talked ever, and that was a lot of stuff that I did not know.”

Keith scrunched his eyebrows together. 

“I've spoken more than that before. And I mean, most people don't so it's nothing to worry about.”

“I still feel bad though, man, and you just talked for like five minutes in a row which has happened zero other times.”

Keith shrugged. 

“Don't worry about it, and I just don't usually have much to say.”

“Alright, well, I'm going to sleep. Goodnight, Keith.”

“Goodnight, Lance.”

It took Keith fifteen minutes to realize that he'd held a conversation with Lance without arguing for what was probably only the eleventh time. 

\------------

Keith growled and kicked the machine against the wall. 

“沒用的東西。” _Méi yòng de dōngxī_. Useless object. 

It was supposed to bandage his shoulder for him while his arm was incapacitated, but all it had managed to do was yank him forward and back a couple times before he'd punched the off button. 

Lance poked his head into his room, an adorably concerned expression on his face. 

“You okay, Keith?”

“Yeah, I'm just- this stupid machine isn't doing its job properly.”

“It's supposed to bandage your shoulder, right?”

Keith let out an exasperated sigh. 

“Yeah.”

Lance clicked his tongue. 

“You could've just asked one of us for help, you know. Sit down.”

“I know, but- what?”

“Sit down. I'm going to rebandage your shoulder.” Lance began gathering gauze and rolls of cloth. “A wound you wouldn't have, by the way, if you hadn't rushed into that hallway before we said it was clear to go.”

Lance was going to bandage his shoulder for him? Lance was going to _touch_ him? Keith began protesting before he even realized he was doing it. 

“Y- you don't have to. I can do-”

He cut off at the sight of Lance raising a single arched eyebrow. 

“O- okay, fine.” Keith plopped into his chair and pouted. 

He was suddenly very aware of his own lack of clothing. He'd only been wearing his boxers when Lance walked in, and it was too late to put on pants now. 

Lance put a hand on Keith's shoulder and he jumped. 

“Relax, babe, I'm not going to hurt you.” Lance snorted, pressing a cool cloth doused in alien disinfectant against the wound. 

“Sorry,” Keith mumbled, feeling the blood drain from his face. 

That was a thing his body did. When people like Lance were embarrassed they flushed a pretty rosy pink, but Keith’s skin went pale, his lips nearly invisible. It was decidedly _not_ a good look. 

Lance's hands were gentle in all that they did. Cleaning the wound caused minimal pain, and the gauze was pressed on so softly Keith wondered if they were even there at all. His ministrations, however, were not poor at all. The bandages wrapped securely around Keith's shoulder, holding firmly no matter how much he squirmed. 

Lance inspected his handiwork and prodded carefully. “You good?”

Keith nodded, not trusting himself to speak. 

“You're sure?”

His voice when it came out was a scratchy. “I'm perfect. I'm- I'm gonna go to sleep now. You should do the same. We have a long day of training ahead of us.”

Lance's face fell into an expression keith couldn't quite place. Disappointment? Worry?

“Alright. Be careful not to lay on that side, okay?”

“Yeah, whatever, mom.”

\------------

Lance was up in a tree rescuing some alien fuzzball. Keith had never been so endeared and so worried at the same time. On one hand, Lance climbing a tree to save a cuddly creature was the stuff of dreams. On another hand, what if he fell and broke his neck or something. 

Okay, so maybe Keith was a little more worried than necessary, but it was a genuine concern. Keith had meant what he'd said all those months ago. If Lance died he wouldn't know what to do with himself. 

After what had seemed like an endless amount of time, Lance’s feet were on the ground once more, the fuzzy creature snug in his arms. Keith’s eye physically twitched, and he looked down, pretending to fiddle with his bayard. He cursed under his breath, and unable to resist looking, glanced back up. 

“太可愛了吧？一點都不公平。” _Tài kě'àile ba? Yīdiǎn dōu bù gōngpíng_. He's too cute, it's not fair at all. 

Lance paused from scratching behind the alien’s ears and looked at him, a question in his eyes. 

“Sorry, what was that? I didn't catch it.”

“I- nothing. I didn't say anything.” 

Lance grinned. 

“Was it about me? Heh, I know I'm amazing. You don't have to tell me.”

Keith waved his hands frantically. 

“No- no! I wasn't- it wasn't- I-”

Lance winked and stroked the creature’s head, his face morphing into something hopeful. 

“You want to go return it to its mother with me?”

How could Keith say no to a face like that?

“Y- yeah, hold on. Lemme just grab my- let's go?”

God, why did he keep stuttering? Keith threw his pack on and followed Lance into the forest wondering whether he'd be following Lance forever, always watching, but never seen. It wasn't that Lance wasn't into guys -- he'd made the fact that he was abundantly clear -- but how could he like Keith? Keith with his plain way of speaking, and horrifyingly wide hips. How could someone like Lance notice someone as inadequate as him? 

“Hey, man, you okay?” Lance had turned back to look at him. 

“Huh?” Nice. Real eloquent. “Yeah, sorry. Blanked out again.”

“Alright. Be careful, I don't want you tripping and falling on that pretty face of yours.”

Keith stumbled. Lance had begun flirting with him a few months ago, and Keith still had not discerned the reason why. He figured it was probably just another way for Lance to tease him. Whatever the reasoning, it still never failed to make Keith’s stomach turn in knots and his brain turn to mush. 

Lance laughed and Keith thought that he could have that sound for every meal and never get hungry. 

\-----------

Boyfriends. Keith had managed to become boyfriends to the loveliest boy in the universe -- he had no idea how, but he'd done it. Somewhere between the yelling and the flirting and the late night conversations, he'd gotten Lance to fall in love with him just as much as he loved Lance. Just thinking about it made Keith feel all bubbly on the inside. 

“ _Buenos días, mi corazón_.” Lance snuck his arms around Keith's waist from behind and smiled into his neck. He was clean-shaven, and Keith thanked the stars for it. He didn't think he could handle super-hot-and-scruffy-Lance this early in the day. 

Keith turned his head as much as he could and nudged Lance with his face. “Mornin,’ Lance,”

“Mmph. Did you sleep well?” 

“Yeah, you?”

“It would've been better if you were there with me.”

“I was literally laying right beside you.”

“Okay, but for how long? You were only in bed for like five hours.”

“Is five hours not enough?”

“No? Obviously not. I need cuddles, Keith. I'm a clingy man and clingy men need love.”

“Isn't the love I give you now enough?” Keith whined, jokingly. 

Lance clicked his tongue. 

“The love you give is perfectly wonderful, but I want more of it.”

“You already have my everything.”

“Oh. Oh my god. First of all, that was sappy and gross and adorable and you have my everything too. Second of all, can I kiss you? I really want to kiss you right now.” Lance babbled, giving Keith enough space to turn around and face him fully. 

Keith chuckled and rose onto his tiptoes, rubbing their noses together. “可愛。” _ke ai_. Cutie. 

“Okay, you speaking Chinese should not be as cute as it is, but it's cute.”

Keith snorted. “你都不知道我在說什麼。” _Nǐ dōu bù zhīdào wǒ zài shuō shénme_. You don't even know what I'm saying. 

“See! Oh my god. I have no idea what you said, but it was adorable. Wait, why aren't you kissing me yet? Do not deprive me of my kisses, Keith.” Lance leaned his face closer to Keith's, imploring him to, please, hurry up. 

“Alright, alright. Here they come.”

Keith smiled softly and kissed Lance, his hands going to cup his face and the back of his neck. This boy was going to be the death of him, and he didn’t mind it one bit.

\------------

Lance's feet were cold when they pressed against Keith's calves under the mountains of blankets they'd set out for a night of movie watching. 

“Fucking hell, Lance,” Keith hissed and kicked at him lightly. 

“Hey, why are you kicking me, you meanie?” Lance kicked back, and Keith glared at him. 

“Your feet are like ice cubes.” 

“Yeah, I'm warming them up.”

“Well, don't warm them on my legs!”

“Aw, but babe, you're so hot.”

Keith groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Why do I even like you?”

Lance fake gasped. “You like me? Ooh. You like me. You like me.”

“哎呀，不要再講了啦。不要再講了。” _Āiyā, bùyào zài jiǎngle la. bùyào zài jiǎngle_. Geez, stop saying it. Stop saying it.

Keith grabbed a pillow and whacked Lance with it. “What are you, five?”

“I think you mispronounced _amazing_ ,” Lance laughed, grabbing a pillow of his own and throwing it at Keith's head. 

Keith yelped, and ducked under the pile of blankets. “Just go put the movie in, you idiot.”

“ _Your_ idiot,” Lance sing-songed, extracting himself from the couch to click the play button on the strange Altean television. 

When he returned Keith snuggled against him and pressed a kiss to his cheek. 

“ _My_ idiot.” 

Lance's ears looked so red the might explode and Keith chuckled, flicking one with his finger. 

“You're blushing.”

“I- shut up, Samurai.”

\------------

It was dark, and it was quiet. Nights were times of stillness and peace that most days just did not have. Skin was soft against skin, velvety smooth like the petals of a rose. Fingers trailed through hair and legs tangled together. 

When they lay back down beside each other, breaths still coming quick, Keith brought his hand to brush a stray lock of hair out of Lance’s eyes. 

“You're beautiful,” he murmured, almost silently, afraid to break the spell that kept time from creeping forward quickly, lengthening the hours. 

Keith's hands traced across his collarbones, to shoulders, and down his arms. 

“這裏跟這裏。” _Zhèlǐ gēn zhèlǐ_. Here and here. 

Keith pressed soft kisses to Lance's neck and chest. He felt smooth muscle ripple under his palms, and he heard a sigh shudder above him. He soothed the purple bruise beginning to form at the junction of Lance's neck and shoulder with his mouth and closed his eyes, nuzzling closer. The air around them felt private and still as Keith felt himself descend slowly into sleep. 

“Hey, Keith,” Lance tipped Keith's face up to kiss him on the lips. “ _Te amo_.”

Keith smiled at him, eyes bright with feeling. “我愛你。” _Wǒ ài nǐ_. 

I love you.

**Author's Note:**

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> 
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> 
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